Hell's Fury
by A Markov
Summary: FURY: 1. (noun) - unrestrained violent anger, rage or passion. 2. (noun) - A fierce and violent person, especially a woman. 3. (mythology) - minor female divinity: a daughter of Gaea who punishes crimes. … Shepard's girlfriend has been kidnapped. Someone is about to learn the true meaning of 'Fury' and Hell is taking notes.
**_Title:_** _Hell's Fury_ _
_ ** _Chapter:_** _1/1_ _ **  
**_ ** _Author:_** _Alex Markov_  
 ** _Disclaimer:_** _Mass Effect characters and locations belong to BioWare  
_ ** _Summary:  
_** _FURY: (noun)_ _  
_ _1\. Unrestrained or violent anger, rage or passion._ _  
_ _2\. A fierce and violent person, especially a woman.  
_ _3\. Minor female divinity: a daughter of Gaea who punishes crimes._

 _Shepard's girlfriend has been kidnapped. Someone is about to learn the true meaning of 'Fury' and Hell is taking notes._

 ** _Warning:_** _The "tragedy" tag is there for a reason._

* * *

 **HELL'S FURY**

Sam Traynor couldn't breathe. Terror gripped her throat and chest, triggering a severe asthma attack. She struggled to suck air through the gag shoved into her mouth. She knew she should breathe through her nose, but in her panic, she couldn't figure out how to do it. She struggled against the strong arms pinning her elbows to her sides, kicking her feet and throwing her head from side to side, trying to gain enough momentum to loosen her captor's grip. A sharp pain blossomed at the back of her skull and she heard cursing as the arms carrying her loosened and she fell forward. Her hands wouldn't move, they were bound tightly behind her back and she stumbled as her toe caught the floor unexpectedly. Her knees hit first- a hard impact that snapped her jaw shut, forcing the gag further back into her throat- then her shoulder and face slammed into the floor. Her stomach spasmed and she couldn't make her lungs work. Something heavy hit her face and her head snapped back. The impact dislodged her blindfold and through the haze of pain she could see a humanoid shadow looming. Her vision was going dark around the edges from lack of oxygen, pain exploded in her face, then her chest, then her shoulder. She was vaguely aware of her attacker being lifted away and a krogan in blue armor reaching down toward her. An omni-tool swam in in her vision and the darkness closed in completely.

* * *

Sam regained consciousness slowly. Her arms and shoulders ached and there were sharp pains in her nose and chest. A headache pounded behind her eyes. She tried to sit up but she was restrained- her arms still bound tightly behind her. Her eyes snapped open but she saw only blackness. Memories of her abduction rushed back to her and fright tightened her chest and throat muscles. Frantically, she tried to control her breathing. Her nose was blocked and painful. She concentrated on controlled, shallow breaths through her clenched teeth but fear and panic were closing in on her, threatening to overwhelm her. A heavy hand clasped her shoulder. She jumped and let out an involuntary scream.

A voice rumbled at her, low and full of menace. She couldn't understand the words. She strained against her bonds, completely forgetting to control her breathing. Her chest tightened and terror took a hold of her once again. She was pulled roughly into a seated position. A large, clawed hand grasped her face and turned her head to one side. Something cool pressed against her exposed neck and she felt a sharp prick. The muscle spasms in her neck subsided and her lungs opened slightly. Breathing became easier and the panic retreated a bit. She was able to concentrate on the voice and understand the words.

"I have no desire to kill you, human." the krogan voice rumbled in her ear. She could feel the presence of something large looming over her. Her imagination filled in the large reptilian head and the giant mouth full of sharp teeth. She trembled involuntarily. "There is no glory in your death." The clawed hand holding her face disappeared and she slumped back against a hard surface.

Able to breathe normally and no longer in fear of immediate death, the analyst in her began collecting information and classifying it. There were only two reasons why someone would abduct her. One was to use her knowledge of top secret protocols to access the data banks of the Alliance's flagship, the Normandy. The other was to use her kidnapping as a way to coerce someone else. She wasn't worried about giving up Alliance access secrets, even if she told them everything she knew and all the codes, EDI was smart enough to recognize when someone shouldn't have access and take appropriate measures to keep them out. She was very worried about the second possibility. Over the past several months, she had become close, even intimate, with her commanding officer.

Sam had never expected her flirtations to be noticed let alone taken seriously by the infamously cold Commander Shepard. To hear Joker tell it, just about everyone on the collector base mission had made it clear they were willing to go a round or two with the commander but they'd all been shot down. It had started as a kind of dare to herself, the challenge of cracking the ice queen's façade, the forbidden thrill of teasing the lion. She'd been thrilled and somewhat terrified the first time she realized the commander was responding. She told herself that it was nothing, she was just seeing what she wanted to see and hearing what she wanted to hear and then it happened! In the commander's shower, of all places!

That first encounter had been exactly what she'd expected and hoped for. Shepard had been ferocious and dominant. She approached sex the way she approached combat and Sam had thoroughly enjoyed being completely dominated by the most powerful woman in the galaxy. She'd thought that would be it, just a bit of wild sex to blow off steam, something to brag about after the war, but then something unexpected happened. Their one night stand turned into two, then three, then a relationship. It happened slowly, over the course of many months but eventually, Shepard opened up to her and under the scars and the armor and the ferocity, Samantha found a woman. A woman who had emotional needs as well as physical ones. A woman who was vulnerable. A woman who Sam fell for in the worst way. Sure, it was against Alliance regs to fraternize, but when the entire galaxy was at war and every species in it was fighting for survival, the rules about fraternization seemed minor in comparison.

For the last few months, Samantha had been a confessor and confidant. A person Jane could rely on the way the rest of the galaxy relied on Commander Shepard. She liked to think that she was good for Jane, that the warrior could lay down her burden when she was with Sam and just be a woman. But now, she was having doubts. Commander Jane Shepard was **the** uniting force for the current galaxy-wide inter-species cooperation against the invading Reapers. She had the trust and respect of influential people from every race, and without her leadership there was a very real possibility that the whole coalition would fall apart. The chance that Shepard's attention could be pulled from her mission over concern for a lover threatened to bring the tightness back to Sam's chest. She tried to banish the thought from her mind and concentrate on getting herself out of trouble so the commander wouldn't have to.

Sam moved her head around into several different angles and positions trying to dislodge the blindfold but had no success. It remained impenetrable, and she remained in complete blackness. She worried briefly that she'd been blinded, but she could feel the weight of something around her face. She gave up on seeing and, instead, concentrated on the sounds around her. There were several other people in the room and judging by the sounds they made moving around they were heavy. Either very big or wearing combat armor, possibly both. She was on the floor, leaning against something smooth, probably a wall or a cabinet of some kind. The space was large but not cavernous, and the floor under her was carpeted. She couldn't hear the sound of engines or feel any vibrations, so she wasn't on a ship. That implied she was still on the Citadel. The space didn't feel or sound like a warehouse. She couldn't hear any music or crowd noise. She was most likely in an apartment in one of the wards.

Her nose felt stuffed-up, and trying to sniff was painful. It was probably broken, but it really wasn't bothering her as much as she thought it should. As her chest and arm muscles continued to relax and a feeling of warmth was spreading out from her shoulder where she had felt the pinprick, Sam realized that she'd been given something more than asthma medication. A tiny voice in the back of her mind was screaming for her to panic but a lethargy was spreading throughout her body and she couldn't seem to generate any real concern about her predicament.

Her worst fears were realized when she heard the commander's voice over a communication device of some kind. She couldn't understand the words but Jane Shepard's voice was unmistakable. The commander didn't sound happy and she was interrupted by a derisive snort and a gruff voice, probably krogan but not the same one who had drugged Sam. "No funny business, Shepard." He growled. "You go to the coordinates we provided, alone, and your girlfriend walks out of here." Again, Samantha could hear Shepard's voice on the line. She couldn't make out any words but the tone was intense.

Sam was roughly pulled to her feet and half walked, half carried several steps before being forced back down. She fell back onto a softer surface, probably a couch, and her blindfold was pulled off. Blinking from the sudden brightness she struggled to see anything about her surroundings. Shepard's voice cut through her confusion.

"I'm coming for you, Sam."

Samantha focused on the low table in front of her. Commander Jane Shepard's face dominated a small, portable screen. Her lips were set in a thin hard line and anger dominated her green eyes. The scars on her cheek glowed an angry red that matched the lock of hair that had fallen over the left side of her face.

Sam shook her head. "No," she croaked. Her throat and mouth too dry to properly form the words. "I'm not important."

Shepard's eyes softened and there was a flash of pain in them. "Sammy," she murmured. "I'm coming for you."

A huge krogan reached down and picked up the tablet and turned away from her. Sam was stunned by how much worse she felt now that she couldn't see Jane. She made a half-hearted attempt to get up and follow the tablet screen but a rough hand on her shoulder forced her back down onto the couch. Shepard's voice reached her again. "I'm giving you a chance, Krash." The commander's voice was hard as diamond. "If you let her go right now, I won't hunt you down, and if we ever cross paths, I'll kill you quickly."

The krogan chuckled. "A fine offer, Shepard but I'm not at liberty to accept. Go to the coordinates, alone, and she'll be released." He glanced up at a chronograph, and Samantha followed his gaze. 17:22. "You're running out of time." He deactivated the screen and tossed it aside.

Samantha glanced around at her surroundings. She was slumped on a couch in a fairly large living space. About three meters to her left, an entertainment screen covered most of the wall. A couple meters to her right, the wall was dominated by a stone sculpture. Across from her, a meter or so beyond the low table stood two batarians in full combat gear. A couple meters beyond them was a large glass wall. Her view looking out was one of the Citadel wards; the apartment seemed to be on an upper level. Far in the distance, she could see the giant hub of the Presidium. Occasionally a taxi or shuttle flitted across the view. The krogan was wearing armor with the Blue Suns' logo on it. Sam looked around, and her fear cut through the lassitude of the drugs. There were four more Blue Suns mercenaries in the food preparation area and another krogan leaning against the wall near the entrance.

She pulled weakly at her bonds. Now that her muscles were relaxed they seemed a bit looser, but she couldn't muster the concentration to work at them. The pain in her head was receding, but the dull throbbing pressure in her sinuses wasn't letting up at all. She studied the big krogan looming near her. He seemed calm, his gaze steady on the chronograph. She glanced over at it. 16:05. It took a moment to register with her. It's counting down! The little voice in the back of her head screamed at her.

"What happens when it gets to zero?" She was surprised to realize that the words were her own. Her voice was raspy, her words slightly slurred by the drugs.

The big krogan, Jane had called him 'Krash,' shrugged. "You die."

"Why?"

Krash pulled out his shotgun and began checking it over. "Don't know. Don't care." He shrugged. "Job is to grab you, deliver the message, then kill you."

Sam forgot about her injury and tried to wrinkle her nose. The sharp pain focused her thoughts. "I don't like this job," she complained.

He glanced up from his shotgun. "It's nothing personal."

Sam thought about this for a few seconds. From her perspective it was very personal. She wished there was some way she could contact Shepard and let her know that they were going to kill her no matter what. She tried to sit up and look around. As soon as she moved the two batarians across from her put their hands on their guns and tensed-up. Sam let herself fall back onto the couch. She was going to die in 15 minutes, and there was nothing she could do about it. But even worse than that, Jane was going to walk into a trap—for her—and she was going to die anyway. If only there was some way she could let Shepard know so the commander could at least avoid the trap.

Cold fear slowly wrapped itself around Samantha's chest, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. The chronograph continued its countdown. It seemed to speed up as each second passed. When it reached 5:00, Sam's survival instincts and adrenaline finally overcame the lassitude imposed on her by the drugs and she began to thrash about on the couch, trying to get up and run She managed to get to her feet but she immediately tripped over the table. Her head hit the floor with a sickening crack and pain flared across her skull. One of the batarians rolled her over and started to drag her back toward the couch. As he picked her up by the shoulder, she was turned toward the window. A taxi had stopped about 10 meters away and was hanging motionless in the air.

Samantha couldn't be sure if it was an effect of the drugs or her fear, but time seemed to slow down. The door of the taxi opened and a blue nimbus exploded out from it toward her. The windows shattered inward, showering everyone in the apartment with broken glass. And, suddenly, Commander Shepard was standing in the middle of the living space. She wasn't wearing any armor, just loose-fitting utility pants and a black singlet. Her thin lips were curled in a snarl and her short, red hair stood out from her head in an electrical halo. Beyond her, the taxi spiraled out of control into a nearby building.

In a smooth motion, she flipped open her omni-blade and drove it clean through the nearest mercenary's throat. Blood erupted out in a long arc, splattering all over Sam and the batarian holding her. Gunfire erupted from the food prep area and the mercenary holding Sam reached for his weapon. There was another blue nimbus explosion. The dead batarian was flying toward the food prep area and Shepard was next to Sam with her thumbs in the upper eye sockets of the batarian holding onto Sam's arm. Gore squirted from between Shepard's fingers. She hooked onto Sam's shoulder with her elbow and drove them both down to the floor near the couch, twisting around so the blinded batarian was between them and the big krogan, Krash.

There was a blinding flash and a deafening explosion. The batarian between them and Krash evaporated into a cloud of blood and viscera. It took Sam a moment to realize the flash and explosion came from the menacing-looking shotgun at Krash's waist. Every hair on Sam's body stood on end as another blue nimbus formed around Shepard and she went into a full biotic charge from a prone position. Sam was forced against the couch, and she and the couch both slid across the room, coming to an abrupt stop against something Sam couldn't see. Pain shot through her bound arms and shoulders. Shepard slammed into Krash and rocked the 200 kilo krogan mercenary back on his heels. While he was off balance, she wrestled the massive shotgun from him and slammed its butt into his right eye. Bullets continued to rain from the food prep area, melting against the combined biotic shields of the krogan Warlord and the Alliance Commander.

Krash let out a bellow of pain and swung powerfully at Shepard, but she wasn't there. She dived to the side and rolled into a kneeling position. Again, Sam felt her hairs stand up as Shepard formed the nimbus around herself and charged into the group of batarian mercenaries who were running into the room. Her shields exploded, knocking them all back a couple meters and the shotgun erupted, shredding another mercenary into small, wet chunks.

One of the mercenaries closed in to grapple with her. Shepard grabbed his wrist, forcing his arm up and out, away from his body. The muzzle of the shotgun pressed against his shoulder. His scream of pain was lost in the reverberating sound of the explosion as the shell tore through the meat of his shoulder. He flew backwards out of Sam's line of sight, leaving Shepard with two weapons, the devastating shotgun and a make-shift club. Pulling the shotgun close to her body, she rolled forward into the food prep area and out of Sam's line of sight. There were several sickening, wet thuds followed by an inhuman scream of pain. A batarian staggered back into the living area followed closely by Shepard. She swung the severed arm in a wide over-head arc, flinging blood and mucus in an expanding fan. The merc blocked the incoming blow but Shepard pressed the muzzle of the shotgun into his stomach and pulled the trigger. His intestines sprayed out of his back and decorated the entertainment screen on the far wall. The smaller krogan appeared out of nowhere with a mighty bellow. He smashed into Shepard with a resounding 'crack.' She flew across the room and slammed into the stone sculpture. He charged again. Shepard brought the shotgun up and pulled the trigger once more but instead of a reverberating "boom" there was only a loud click. His fist connected with her and she was driven into the floor. He laughed as he raised his arms, clasping his fists together and brought them down in a devastating arc that shattered the statue where she had been lying.

Shepard rolled to her feet and drove her elbow into the off-balance krogan's right eye socket. He bellowed in pain, swinging at her wildly. His fist crashed through the remains of the statue, shattering it. The last whole mercenary scrambled past Sam on all fours, heading for the exit. The blue nimbus surrounded Shepard once more and she appeared in his path. She picked up the severed arm from the floor and brought it around in a wide arc connecting with his face as he tried to scramble away. After the first impact, she changed direction and whirled around the other way, bringing it up under his chin and lifting him off the floor with the impact. She leaped into the air and drove him to the ground with her knees, ending the attack with her omni-blade buried deep in his throat. She ripped the blade out sideways, flinging blood and gore into the good eye of the injured krogan charging toward her. She rolled again and ended in a crouch, holding the batarian's gun.

Once more the blue nimbus formed around her and she sped forward, driving her knees into the krogan's chest. As the krogan went over backwards, Shepard pressed the muzzle of the gun against his throat and pulled the trigger five times. Blood fountained from the pulpy mess that used to be his neck. The whole apartment shook when he hit the floor. Shepard stood slowly, her eyes focused across the room to where Krash stood. Her ferocious glare didn't seem to phase him. He regarded her impassively, arms crossed, eyes lidded. A groan of pain came from the food prep area. Shepard lifted the gun and, without taking her eyes of the big krogan fired once. The groan stopped.

"That was your last round, Shepard."

"You think I need a gun to kill you, Krash?"

Sam looked up from the floor where Shepard had thrown her. The Commander stood over her protectively. She was a bloody mess. Her singlet and pants were soaked with blood and her arms were covered in viscera up to her biceps. Fresh blood oozed from a large gash on her forehead, mixing with the blood and bits of mercenary that clung to her cheeks and chin. Her left arm hung at an unnatural angle and deep gash in her leg was partially visible through a rip in her pants. But the most frightening thing was her expression; a feral grin that was both satisfied and anticipatory.

Sam emptied the contents of her stomach into the pool of blood spreading out from the dead krogan.

A new sound penetrated Sam's misery. One of the Normady's shuttles appeared, hovering just outside the apartment. Its bay door was open, framing LT. Vega at the controls of an anti-aircaraft gun. From behind her, Sam heard arrival of several more of Shepard's ground team members. She saw a flash of blue and recognized Dr. T'soni.

"Oh! Specialist Traynor, we need to get you back to Dr. Chakwas." Sam felt the bonds holding her arms behind her back loosen up and sharp pains ran through her arms and shoulders as the blood began flowing again. At the thought of blood flowing, Sam's stomach rebelled again and she found herself dry-heaving into the asari's lap. If it bothered the doctor, she didn't show it.

"Damn, Shepard," Garrus' drawl floated across the room. "I haven't seen you this pissed off in a long time." He sauntered into Sam's range of vision, assault rifle casually gripped in his left hand.

Shepard's eyes never left the krogan battlemaster. "How is she, Liara?" Her voice was strained in a way that Sam hadn't heard before.

"She is badly injured but not fatally so." Dr. T'soni's clipped tones dripped with disapproval. "She should be brought to Dr. Chakwas as soon as possible."

"You and James get her back to the ship. I'll be there as soon as I take care of this."

Sam tried to stand up but her muscles were trembling too much for her to control them. She was hyperventilating and couldn't stop crying. Liara picked her up easily and Sam felt the now familiar itch of biotics as the asari leapt from the apartment to the shuttle.

"Specialist," Liara's voice was quiet but insistent. "I am going to give you a sedative to control the muscle spasms." The last thing Sam saw before the shuttle door closed was Shepard, Garrus and Ashley facing the lone krogan. There was a coolness on her neck and the world faded to black.

* * *

Samantha cowered in the med-bay. She wasn't particularly proud of it, but there wasn't any other way to describe how she was behaving. It had been two days since she'd been kidnapped and rescued and she still wasn't sure which had been more terrifying. Dr. Chakwas had done a great job patching her up. Physically, she was fine; even her nose didn't hurt. But she couldn't bring herself to face the Commander. Every time she closed her eyes, the fear and pain she'd seen in Jane's face haunted her. Dr. Chakwas had informed Sam that Shepard was anxious to see her, but she couldn't bear the thought of it. She begged the doctor to keep her away. Now the Commander was outside the med-bay, pacing like a caged tiger. Occasionally, Sam caught glimpses of her through the gaps in the privacy curtains. She could feel the intensity and focus that made the woman so effective on the battlefield. Through the partially open door, Sam heard Shepard demanding to be let in. She wondered how the doctor could stand up to her intimidating glare.

"She's traumatized, Commander." Dr. Chakwas' quiet voice was velvet wrapped around steel. "First by the kidnapping, then by witnessing you brutally kill her captors."

Sam heard a loud crash "Are you fucking kidding me?" There was the sound of another impact and the wall of the med-bay shook. "Are you saying she's fucked up 'cause I rescued her?"

The doctor sighed. "Commander, I'm sure you did what was necessary, but that girl isn't one of your infantry marines. She isn't used to the battlefield like you are. Give her some time."

The door closed, cutting off the rest of the conversation. Sam curled up as small as she could and continued to shiver.

* * *

"Samantha?" Shepard sounded hesitant. Sam couldn't look her in the eye. She sat on the medical bed, arms wrapped around her shins, face buried in her knees. She could feel the commander standing next to her, but she still couldn't bring herself to look at her. If she saw Jane's face, she knew she wouldn't be able to do what was necessary. She felt Shepard's hand on her shoulder and she forced herself not to push into it, forced herself to remain still and not throw her arms around the woman she loved.

"Sam?" Worry clouded Shepard's voice.

"I can't… Commander."

"You're safe now, Sammy." Shepard caressed her shoulder. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

Sam pulled away and curled up tighter. "P-please don't.."

"What?"

"Please… go."

As the door closed behind the Commander, Samantha let go of her emotions and the tears began to fall. The pain in Jane's voice had cut into her gut. She felt as though there was a giant hand squeezing her heart, an empty nausea in her stomach. Sobs racked her body and spasms clenched her gut. She couldn't get a breath and she couldn't properly cry. She wanted nothing in the world more than to chase after Jane and throw herself into her arms. But the commander needed to be focused on defeating the Reapers.

She had heard the story from three different people. How Shepard had received the call about Sam's kidnapping and hadn't even taken time to return to the Normandy for her armor. The frantic calls and searching while the entire team was pulled from whatever assignments they had been on to focus all of the Normandy's resources to tracking down one woman. Shepard had risked her own life and jeopardized the entire mission to save Sam and that was unacceptable. The galaxy needed Shepard to be focused and whole, otherwise they were all lost. Maybe when this was all over, if it was all over, she'd have a chance to beg Shepard for forgiveness and try to connect once more.

She could vaguely feel Dr. Chakwas' comforting hand on her back and hear the murmured reassurances but they didn't matter. Her heart had been torn out of her chest and thrown away and the worst part was that she'd done it to herself. She let the rest of the world disappear as she wrapped herself around the hole in her chest and cried until she exhausted herself and fell asleep.

* * *

Shepard exited the shuttle and waved at Cortez to take off.

"Commander, this isn't the safest area. Are you sure you don't want LT. Vega or Garrus to accompany you?"

"I'm fine, Cortez. Get back to the ship. I'll call you when I want a pick-up."

After the shuttle lifted off, Shepard headed into the maze of the Transportation Hub. She walked for nearly a kilometer, occasionally pausing for a glance at her omni-tool. Finally, she stopped in front of a warehouse storefront that was indistinguishable from any of the other thousands of warehouses in the area. The door opened to her knock and she marched in. Wrex's massive form dominated the small office area. To one side, Massani was lounging at a scarred desk.

"Any trouble tracking this piece of shit down?"

Massani shook his head. "If you had killed the bastard six months ago-"

"Yeah, and if asari had dicks we'd all be blue." Shepard threw her hands up, "For fuck's sake, Massani, he jumped out of a goddamned window on the 200th floor and I had other things on my mind."

"Well, I don't like this, Shepard. You've got more important things to worry about than revenge."

"Seriously?" She crossed the room in a flash and slammed him against the wall. The desk fell over and slid about a meter. "You've got a lot of nerve, talking to me about revenge!"

Wrex laid a hand on her shoulder, "Take it easy, Shepard! We're on your side, here."

Massani regarded the commander impassively. "Sometimes you need to let it go, Shepard." He rolled his eye, "I can't imagine where I fucking learned that from."

Wrex cleared his throat. "You going to do this fast or slow, Shepard?"

"What do you think?"

"There's a crease at the back of the skull under the second bony plate-"

"I know."

He studied her for a moment. "I'll bet you do."

Shepard backed off and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, not really looking at either of them. She opened her mouth to speak a couple of times and gestured with her hand aimlessly before clenching it into a tight fist. "I owe you," she finally growled and headed past them toward a locked door at the back of the room.

Massani sniffed. "You're goddamned right, you do."

Wrex placed a clawed hand carefully on her shoulder. "Are you sure you want to do this, Shepard?"

The anger in her green eyes rocked him back on his heels. "She won't even let me see her, Wrex. She's afraid of me now."

The massive krogan nodded. "Well, get it over with. You have a galaxy to save."

"Just lock the door behind me." She snarled and walked into the bare cell. The door shut behind her and she heard the locking bolts slide into place. Across the small room from her, Krash slumped against the steel wall. Blood trailed from his mouth and one of his eyes was bruised shut. His left leg jutted out at an odd angle.

"You" he spat.

"Me." She rolled her shoulders and neck. "You had a chance, Krash."

"Fuck you, Shepard."

Her eyes narrowed as she pulled out a long, wicked-looking blade. "I think we'll start with your tongue."

Wrex righted the desk while Massani broke out the Ryncol and a couple glasses.

The screaming went on for a long time.

* * *

end.

 **Author's Note:** This percolated around in my head for a long time before I finally gave in and let it out onto the page. In this version of the ME Universe, Shepard is in pain on a level that mere mortals can't comprehend. The pressure she's under has brought her to the brink of madness and I honestly don't know if this broke her completely or if she found a way to put herself back together. In the original draft, She descended into madness and the galaxy fell to the reapers. I chose to cut the story off before that happened. Yes, that means that there is a part two of this sitting in the back of my head trying to get out, but it isn't ready yet.

As always, I'd love to hear what you have to say about this. Did you love it? Hate it? Was Shepard too violent? not violent enough? Drop me a line and let me know. And, as always, every signed review gets a reply, ( I would replay to anonymous reviews but ffnet has no mechanism in place for that.) even reviews for old stories.


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